Friday, January 31, 2014

TSA Week in Review – 37 Firearms Discovered This Week (32 Loaded)

37Firearms Discovered This Week
– Of the 37 firearms, 32 were loaded and 18 had rounds
chambered. See a complete list and more photos at the bottom of this post.

Replica Grenades (L-R) DFW, ORD

Inert
Ordnance and Grenades etc.
- We continue to find inert hand grenades and other weaponry on a weekly basis.
Please keep in mind that if an item looks like a realistic bomb, grenade, mine,
etc., it is prohibited. When these items are found at a checkpoint or in
checked baggage, they can cause significant delays in checkpoint screening.
While they may be novelty items, you cannot bring them on a plane. Read
here on why inert items cause problems.

A
replica grenade was detected in the carry-on bag at Chicago O’Hare (ORD).

Five
replica 40mm inert grenades were discovered in a checked bag at Dallas/Fort
Worth (DFW).

Credit Card Knife (RAP)

Artfully
Concealed Prohibited Items –
It’s important to examine your bags prior to traveling to ensure no prohibited
items are inside. If a prohibited item is discovered in your bag or on your
body, you could be cited and quite possibly arrested by local law enforcement.
Here are a few examples from this week where prohibited items were found by our
officers in strange places.

Three
credit card knives were discovered this week at Albuquerque (ABQ), and Rapid
City (RAP).

Stun
Guns – 12
stun guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation. Two
were discovered at Minneapolis (MSP), two at Denver (DEN), two more at Las
Vegas (LAS), and the remainder were found at Baltimore (BWI), Cleveland (CLE),
Sioux Falls (FSD), Seattle (SEA), San Jose (SJC), and Sacramento (SMF).

Firearms
Discovered This Week in Carry-On Bags

Left to Right - Top to Bottom: Guns Discovered at MFR, SEA, TPA, HOU, SFB, SDF, MCO, TYS, CPR

*In order to provide a timely weekly update, date is
compiled from a preliminary report. The year-end numbers will vary slightly
from what is reported in the weekly updates. However, any monthly, midyear, or
end-of-year numbers TSA provides on this blog or elsewhere will be actual
numbers and not estimates.

Unfortunately
these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about
these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are
finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the
throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up
with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. The passenger can face a
penalty as high as $7,500.00. This is a friendly reminder to please
leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an
individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law
enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these
items.

It is obvious that the TSA message is not being received by travelers. Contraband items are still being discovered at a consistent weekly rate of approximately 40 items. The TSA needs to promulgate policy better and more effectively than at the present time.

Almost 12,000,000 people flew last week on 210,000 flights. That means .0003% of passengers and less than. 02% of flights even had a chance of someone without any terrorist intention carrying a weapon.

Statistically insignificant drivel that could have been found with metal detectors, if they weren't found in baggage.

will the metal detector detect explosives? i belive that the tsa is only searching for explosives, incindiaries, and weapons so will explosives be detected with a metal detector? if it does not then technology is needed to detect these items on people otherwise they are not doing what they are suppose to be doing.

tombeecher said... It is obvious that the TSA message is not being received by travelers. Contraband items are still being discovered at a consistent weekly rate of approximately 40 items. The TSA needs to promulgate policy better and more effectively than at the present time.

agreed! perhaps tsa should place signs at the front of screening areas letting people know what is and isnt allowed. perhaps they should create a website where people who are traveling can go to see if the items that they plan on traveling with are allowed. perhaps they should create a telephone app that can answer questions about objects that people want to take with them on board the plane. perhaps people should take a more proactive approach to traveling and read signs, etc to let them know what they can and cant travel with instead of putting it all on the tsa

Anonymous said...will the metal detector detect explosives? i belive that the tsa is only searching for explosives, incindiaries, and weapons so will explosives be detected with a metal detector? if it does not then technology is needed to detect these items on people otherwise they are not doing what they are suppose to be doing.

"...perhaps tsa should place signs at the front of screening areas..."

...and a bunch of other nonsense, as, last time I checked, literacy of the English language was not a requirement for travel inside the US. Instead, perhaps the TSA should scale back their screening to something at least somewhat effective, and stop with all the theater? Maybe they should do a risk analysis and use it to drive what procedures are used used. Or perhaps they should just keep doing what they're doing until even the apologists get fed up.

"...perhaps tsa should place signs at the front of screening areas..."

...and a bunch of other nonsense, as, last time I checked, literacy of the English language was not a requirement for travel inside the US. Instead, perhaps the TSA should scale back their screening to something at least somewhat effective, and stop with all the theater? Maybe they should do a risk analysis and use it to drive what procedures are used used. Or perhaps they should just keep doing what they're doing until even the apologists get fed up.

funny how you have to adjust my username because i dont agree with you, name calling so grade school... okay how about signs with pictures of what can and cannot be taken, or people in place that can answer questions such as "can i bring my firearm with me?" in case they are visually impared. or lets just do away with the signs and see if that changes anything then we can save some money.

Anonymous said...will the metal detector detect explosives? i belive that the tsa is only searching for explosives, incindiaries, and weapons so will explosives be detected with a metal detector? if it does not then technology is needed to detect these items on people otherwise they are not doing what they are suppose to be doing.

The only thing TSA has that will detect explosives on people are the Explosive Trace Detectors and those devices are so faulty that they alarm on common hand lotion.

Of course TSA did have the Explosive Trace Portals that were tossed in the trash at great expense to the taxpayers.

I would say that little of what TSA does is what they are suppose to be doing.

common rb, dont change my question because it doesnt suit your agenda, answer the quesiton. will metal detectors discover explosives? the portals were discovered to not work so they got rid of them, which should have been done and they did it. so give me your expert opinion on how to detect explosives on a person, which is what tsa is suppose to be doing per their job. lets figure out a solution

common rb, dont change my question because it doesnt suit your agenda, answer the quesiton. will metal detectors discover explosives? the portals were discovered to not work so they got rid of them, which should have been done and they did it. so give me your expert opinion on how to detect explosives on a person, which is what tsa is suppose to be doing per their job. lets figure out a solution

February 5, 2014 at 5:32 AM

Anon, I didn't change your question, I expanded on it.

You seem to be suggesting that TSA should limit screening to the detection of WEI. Basically I agree with you. However, while WTMD's don't detect explosives they do detect the vast majority of weapons that people do carry, guns and knives in particular.

The Strip Search machine might detect a shape of something on a persons body but it has been proven from several sources that the device can be defeated rather easily and often those shapes are medical devices or other things that TSA has no reason to be concerned about.

TSA is limited by the search they can conduct. TSA is limited to an Administrative Search which limits the depth of the search and also requires that the search be public, a condition that TSA regularly violates.

I am all for finding WEI, but common LGA's, small knives and such, and other things that TSA routinely confiscates are simply not WEI and pose no threat.

On top of that TSA seems unable to either define WEI or to train their employees properly resulting in things like a plastic toy hammer being confiscated from a challenged person, a leather worked gun shape on a ladies purse being confiscated, toy Disney Pirates of the Caribbean swords being confiscated, a Sock Monkeys little toy gun shape being confiscated and the list goes on and on. These acts prove that TSA employees have no clue on what threats are and no clue on what they should be doing.

The Whole Body Pat Down that TSA uses exceeds the limits of an Administrative Search and I put forward that as done by TSA is a sexual assault. It is abusive, degrading, and done without any articulable cause.

We need screenings that address the actual threat and from TSA's own documents no known threat currently exists.

TSA is a $8 Billion dollar boondoggle and needs to be realigned. Best road forward would be to return screening functions to the airports/airlines with oversight functions being returned to the FAA.

Disbanding TSA as we know it today would be a giant step forward for those people who embrace the Constitution of the United States.

Law abiding citizens shouldn't be prohibited from bringing weapons onboard planes in the first place. The inherent human right to self defense doesn't end when you enter an airport. Rather than enhancing safety, prohibitions of weapons actually decrease safety because they deprive people of the ability to defend themselves and thwart criminal attack.

"funny how you have to adjust my username because i dont agree with you"

Is "Anonymous" your username? Thought it was the default for those too lazy to type something in the name box to at least post pseudonymously. My apologies. (Also, I've occasionally been too lazy myself and posted anonymously. Feel free to call me out as lazy when I do so.)

The only thing that detects explosive is the ETD - but the equipment the TSA uses is defective, alarming on the most innocuous of substances, such as glycerin in hand lotion.

Bottom line: the TSA has NEVER found explosives on any passenger."

is glycerin a substance that is used in explosives? if the answer is yes then they are finding traces of explosives. the fact that the same substance is used in lotions is not the point. if people that alarm explosive detection machines are not cleared if there is a false positive then this should be stopped. is this the case or is tsa doing their job by ensuring that the person is not in possesion of explosives and being allowed to continue? i will state again, provide a solution to the body scanner issue, provide tsa a way to determine if a person has explosives on there person. simply complaining about the technology is not constructive because obviously tsa is not listening but it you provide a potential solution then perhaps you will get better results. ps - i believe that tsa has found explosives in checked baggage with these etd machines.

did i just see a story in the news about explosives being disguised as ordinary liquids, specifically toothpaste as a possible threat to aviation in europe and russia? is this the type of threat that the tsa has been trying to fight by limiting liquids on planes since '06? will tsa please comment on this matter especially since liquid restrictions are not as stringent overseas?

More phony pics and statistics. Does anyone actually believe this stuff? And even if it were real (which it is obviously not), how many of these guns were about to be used aboard an aircraft? Zero incidents happen on board, so are we supposed to believe that TSA is 100% effective in finding weapons?

Once again, thanks for stopping the crackpots and criminals. Thanks for the scanners which are apparently working well to deter violators.I fly out of HOU, and am very happy to see that you have prevented loaded firearms from being on the plane.

"is glycerin a substance that is used in explosives? if the answer is yes then they are finding traces of explosives.......ps - i believe that tsa has found explosives in checked baggage with these etd machines."

We need to go back to pre 9/11 screening FOR ALL PASSENGERS. That suggestion has been made time and time again. In fact, it is being adopted, to some extent, through the infamous rip-off program, PreCheck.

There could be one or two scanners at each airport for passengers who are extremely suspicious.

TSA has NEVER found explosives on a passenger that were to be used to blow up a plane.

They did, however, miss a nice big block of C4 in a carry-on bag.

The TSA needs to develop technology that won't alarm on tiny amounts of explosives such as as glycerin in hand lotion, fertilizer or gasoline.

Besides the easiest place to set off a bomb is in a congested line at the airport checkpoint. If any bombs are going to be directed at aviation, that's the place to strike. All the scanners and ETD machines in the world won't stop a determined suicide bomber.

TSA needs to stop hauling people off to private rooms for invasive, abusive and humiliating gropes in contravention of administrative search guidelines:

"Moreover, the possibility for abuse is minimized by the public nature of the search. Unlike searches conducted on dark and lonely streets at night where often the officer and the subject are the only witnesses, these searches are made under supervision and not far from the scrutiny of the traveling public."